London to Leeds

Today was quite a cruisey day, nothing hugely adventurous planned. I checked out of the Penn Club with some regret, an awesome place to stay and after three days there it was beginning to feel like home. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a place to stay in London. The included hot breakfast, communal spaces, free wifi, and free laundry, make it an excellent choice.

I bought a sim card for my phone when I arrived at Heathrow, from a vending machine naturally, and it's proven itself most useful - having data for googling stuff and looking up maps, trains etc is great. I used it this morning to phone East Coast railways, only to discover that to book a seat on a train you need to call before 6pm the day prior. So the plan was to head for Kings Cross and book the first available seat on a train to Leeds.

As Barb said, plans are made to be broken, and I hadn't even left London before I ditched my rough itinerary. The vague plan was to go straight from London to Edinburgh up the East Coast, and then on to Inverness. However I've been doing some reading on scenic rail travel, and along with a link Daniel provided a few weeks back, decided I would head for Leeds, so as to travel through to Scotland detouring via the Leeds - Settle - Carlisle railway line. The most scenic railway line in Britain, if you believe the websites. There are some impressive viaducts, but I expect the beauty of these will be lost on me, as sitting in a carriage, you can't see anything at all of the viaduct!

Breaking more plans was the immediate need to switch luggage modes - from backpack to trundling giant suitcase. The backpack plan was good in theory (well ok, no, no it wasn't) but it soon unraveled. An 11kg backpack, plus 7kg day pack adds up to some unwieldy carrying loads, whichever way you strap them on. Add in a sore back with some pre-existing complaints, and I was pretty much over the backpack arrangement by the time I got to the Broadford railway station, some 10 000kms ago. Arriving at Kings Cross, I detoured via a nearby luggage shop and acquired a huge Samsonite case on wheels. Four wheels. Four wheels makes quite a bit of difference, as on smooth ground eg station concourses, you can gently manoeuvre your luggage around with the slightest of nudges. I say huge because it's the largest piece of luggage I now own, but I have seen bigger in the airport check-in queues. The luggage shop assistant was quite happy for me to transfer my packings from one to the other, and also pointed out I can claim back the VAT (10%) at the airport on my departure! Woo!

At Kings Cross, I had my BritRail pass activated, and learnt that each train service has a number of unreserved seats, where it's first in best dressed, sharp elbows an advantage, though I shouldn't have any problem getting a seat on a non-peak service. Which was just as well, as the next seat bookable service was at 1pm. Sure enough, as I strolled alongside the 10:35 Leeds train, while many of the seats had booking slips, there were plenty available. Trains in the UK are extremely punctual, mainly because there are significant penalty fees payable by operators to Network Rail if a train is late departing (similarly, Network Rail pay significant compensation to the train operators if a train is delayed by track problems), so the train doors are locked 2-3 minutes prior to departure, and the train was off - rocketing out of London.

Within 15 minutes, I was seeing trees, fields, horses and cows. It was an amazing transformation, as we left suburbia and headed further north. Very exciting to start passing through such stereotypical English country side, villages where the church steeple is the highest point. Arriving in Leeds, I thought I'd try my luck with an early check-in at the hotel. As posted earlier, I was amazed at my luck booking what is normally a £200+ hotel for £69 the day before. Early check-in granted, and I spent some time using the iMac to catch up on events and plan some accommodation for tomorrow night in Edinburgh (very very scarce, a bed in a hostel dorm room is the best I could find!).

Have wandered around the Leeds CBD and shopping district for a few hours. Something I have been trying to do (since my shoelace gave out in Dubai Airport) is buy a new pair of shoe laces. I've checked every supermarket I've been in, hunted down a shoe repair shop in Bloomsbury, and scoured Marks and Spencers with no luck. The shoe repair shop was able to sell me a thin pair of laces, which have kinda worked, but I need a boot lace of sorts. I thought I was onto a winner when I spotted a Clarks shoe store in Leeds, but alas no. Perhaps try an outdoors store they suggested. Any idea where one would be? No. Googled, and found a North Face store in Leeds CBD. Once I convinced Google Maps I wasn't driving through a shopping centre, and was in fact on foot, it turned out to be a short block away. Arrived as they were preparing to close, and asked the sales assistant about shoe laces - only to be told they had a selection of boot laces, but they weren't for sale, as they were just for warranty claims on North Face shoes. But I could have a pair for free if there were any that suited! She pulled out a toolbox full of laces, found a suitable pair and handed them over, refusing any offer of payment! A very kind offer that cheered me up no end and put a spring in my step as I walked on. On into Scotland tomorrow!